Creepy Crawlers

          Mostly all  my discoveries in my grandma's garden take place after sunset, I love to walk around and look at all the flowers in the dark with my phone's flashlight on. I never know what I might find but I know that something will show up. 
The other night I decided to dig a little further so I began to lift up random bricks that form a pathway around my grandma's peach trees. And I wasn't disappointed. 
The first critters I saw moving around were little black ants. There were many though I couldn't seem to find any ant holes. 




common pill bug
web image found on 10/11/04

          Then I found the most fun insects of my childhood--pill bugs(aka rollie pollies). I used to entertain myself for hours with these bugs, I would collect as many as I could in a plastic cup then sort them by gender. I was only 6 and my philosophy was that the dark ones were males and the lighter ones were females and the tiny ones were babies. So with this assortment I was able to replace barbies with bugs and I could play house with my live insects.

          As I remembered part of my childhood I decided I wanted to look further into these bugs that brought me so much fun years ago. 

          On an online article called, "Pill Bug (Rollie Pollie)", I found the most surprising facts about these bugs-wait let me rephrase that these 'crustaceans'. It turns out pill bugs are not bugs at all(bugfacts.net). They are not insects nor are they related to any family of bugs(bugfacts.net). In fact these critters are related to shrimp and crayfish(bugfacts.net). They breathe through gills and need humidity to survive(bugfacts.net). They hatch out of eggs stored in the female pill bug's pouch( like a kangaroo)(bugfacts.net). They have 7 pairs of legs (because the seventh pair eight the night, ha just kidding)(bugfacts.net). Well another of my doubts was answered, the color of the pill bug does not determine its gender. Here is a video I found on YouTube of a female pill bug letting its babies out of her pouch.

              Rolypoly having babies: YouTube-https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LaE6XEiqYG4

Baby worm
camera picture taken 10/05/14

          At first I did not notice these tiny worms that were slithering around. They were about half an inch long and tan in color. I thought they were small roots from some plant nearby but then I saw one move. As my girly instinct kicked in and I ferociously jumped back I realized it had no legs and was not moving fast at all so the idea of it being a centipede was discarded. They looked like worms but a miniature version and not pink at all. So I just had to do some research on these critters to find out more. 
I started with the life cycle of worms that I found on, "How do Worms Reproduce and What Is Their Life Cycle?", I found out that worms are he-shes( or as the website calls them 'hermaphrodites'), which means they have both female and male reproductive organs(wormfarming.com). Then I found that worms are adults at 4 to 6 weeks old(wormfarming.com). The worms in my grandma's garden are probably only a couple days old, which means worms have been getting busy around here. The website explains how the band that forms around the worms upper body is where it holds both the male and female body parts(wormfarming.com). And even though each worm carries these organs they still need another worm to be able to reproduce(wormfarming.com). After the worms mate the baby worms are growing in little cocoons(wormfarming.com). Isn't that crazy? Then they come out of the cocoon and the cycle starts all over again. Probably the most fascinating fact to me was that under proper conditions worms can live for several years. 
          This article also helped me understand the purpose to these little critters. They may not know it but their lives are dedicated to helping the Earth. Through their dropping(compost) and  even there dead corpses they help nurture the land that they live on. So through life and death no matter where they are these little organisms are the reason soils are able to give life to other vegetation, which gives life to other animals, which give life to us. Worms are just a little part of the circle of life. 

Works Cited



 "Pill Bug (Rollie Pollie)." bugfacts.net. N.p. 2008-2014. Web. 16 Nov. 2014.

"How do Worms Reproduce and What Is Their Life Cycle?" worm-farming.com. Learn About Nature. 2013/2014. Web. 16 Nov. 2014.